ArchiveJuly 2009 Politics
Powerless spirits
Africa is reeling from a global crisis it did not cause. And there is no magic cure – By Mark Schieritz
What is happening in Nigeria these days is simply not fair. Economic growth has stopped, the treasury is emptying, exports are falling. Africa’s most populous country is struggling under the global economic downturn, even though hardly anyone here invested in U.S. mortgage securities and no investment banks collapsed. The country really only conducted one kind of honest business: selling oil to the world.
But the crisis has shriveled orders for industries in Europe, Asia and the U.S. As they produce less, they need less oil. The price for a barrel of the stuff fell from almost $150 (€107) to less than $40. Foreign investors are pulling out of Nigeria. Hardly anyone extends credit to smaller companies. The budget deficit totals billions of dollars.
Many other African countries share Nigeria’s experience. Economies will grow by an average of only 1.5 percent south of the Sahara this year, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That is not even sufficient to keep pace with population growth. Each person in the region will therefore have less money on average.
High time for action
Why Germany needs to get more involved in Darfur – By Marina Schuster
The tragedy in western Sudan has vanished off the radar of the international community. The war continues and the Khartoum government torpedoes every peace initiative. Berlin’s passivity only serves President Bashir’s purposes.
For six years, a war of expulsion has been raging in Darfur. The United Nations estimates that more than 300,000 people have died in it and more than two million have fled from violence, hunger and illness – only to live in miserable and desperate conditions in refugee camps. The extent of the tragedy is horrifying but it barely touches the outside world any more.
The conflict has had many causes. Numerous ethnic groups compete over scarce resources, be it water, arable land or pastures but also over political power. Rival rebel groups are enmeshed in complex conflicts with one another but neighboring states like Chad are also involved. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has added fuel to the fire by arming Janjaweed militias against the black African population.
What’s in Europe for me?
Convincing voters to support the European idea means overcoming national egos – By Peter H. Koepf
Politicians and journalists lament that only 43 percent of European voters on average took part in the EU elections and display little interest in European politics. The explanation is simple: Benefits for the individual are invisible while the burdens are obvious.
Auditors from Ernst & Young have a simple explanation for why top football players like Cristiano Ronaldo like to play for Spanish clubs. When AC Milan or Bayern Munich want a foreign player with a net salary of €2 million, they have to cough up a gross sum of €3.6 million. The difference goes to the taxman. Manchester United has to spend €3.4 million. That French clubs no longer figure in the Champions League, may have something to do with the fact that they would have to pay €4.3 million annually for the same player. Spanish clubs like Real Madrid or rival FC Barcelona can have him for a relatively modest €2.67 million.
Bongo forever!
Remembering Gabon’s kleptocratic ruler – By Rupert Neudeck
Omar Bongo was one of the worst examples of Africa’s “big men.” During his rule, Gabon failed to prosper despite a wealth of natural resources.
The death of the potentate Omar Bongo, who had named himself president for life, is a reminder of all the misery the people of the African continent have endured. Bongo took office in 1967, when Lyndon Johnson was U.S. president. Bongo’s office initially denied the news of his death in a private Spanish clinic.
It was as if his underlings wanted to say their leader was immortal, because what would then become of his country, Gabon? One thinks back to that day in 1953, when another immortal passed away, leaving his power apparatus frozen with fear: Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili Stalin. He died even though the logic of ruler cults said he couldn’t. North Korea’s Kim Il Sung also comes to mind, the despot whose death sent millions of people weeping bitterly in the streets and plazas.
Putting principles into practice
America’s evolving security challenges – By Matthias Nass
Barack Obama inherited many foreign policy headaches from his predecessor. The new president’s soaring oratory – his preferred tool in pushing policy – contrasts starkly with the Bush administration’s big stick approach. But whether the “soft power president” can avoid using force is more than doubtful.
President Obama has been in office for almost half a year. With charm and determination, he has thawed the frosty climate that surrounded the late Bush administration. He has traveled the world, touching down in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has given a number of great speeches, extending his hand to all those willing to unclench their fist. When this issue went to press, he was scheduled to be in Moscow, trying to put the parlous American-Russian relationship on a more solid footing.
The embers keep glowing
Iran’s revolutionary moment has only been postponed – By Theo Sommer
The mass protests in Tehran and other cities have been reduced to isolated nighttime cries from rooftops. But Iran will never be the same again.
History knows many different manifestations of people power. Some revolutions succeed on the first try, sweeping away the old system in an explosion of wrath, anger and disgust. Others are brutally put down; police batons, guns and tanks ruthlessly crush the rebellious spirit. Still others are temporarily quelled, but the revolutionary spark is not extinguished; the embers keep glowing in the ashes until the next gale of popular discontent rekindles the flame.
A resounding ‘yes’ to Lisbon
But Berlin cannot ratify the treaty – yet – By Bruno Waltert
Germany’s highest court has ruled the Lisbon Treaty reforming the EU is in line with the country’s constitution. But before the president signs the charter, parliament must amend the national law accompanying it.
Would a judicial ruling in Germany, of all countries, stop the Lisbon Treaty from taking effect? That was what many feared and others anticipated ahead of the Constitutional Court’s decision on June 30. In the end, the high court said yes to the treaty reforming the EU’s institutions – unconditionally.
I look at Mandela and see China
By Akinyi Princess of K’Orinda-Yimbo
The latest United Nations World Conference on Racism reminded me of the book, “An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man, and in Different Animals and Vegetables; and from the Former to the Latter,” written by Charles White three centuries ago in London.
The Guernica factor
To prevail in Afghanistan, NATO must give Afghans a stake in their victory – By William Richard Smyser
With their “high” power emanating largely from drones and bombers, the Americans are ill- equipped to overcome the Taliban’s psychological edge. Civilian casualties from air strikes harm NATO further. It is time to come down from the skies.
Historians may someday record that in the spring of 2009, the conflict in Afghanistan entered a new phase that would go on to shape the future not only for Afghanistan but for all of South Asia. This phase may also force the United States and NATO to reassess their entire way of conducting war.
‘We need a genuine partnership’
The West must drop outdated thinking about Afghanistan, says presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was born in the eastern Afghan province of Logar in 1949. After earning a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University in New York, he worked at the World Bank for 10 years before joining the cabinet of Hamid Karzai in 2002. In 2004, Ghani resigned as finance minister because of disagreements with the president, and became chancellor of Kabul University. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for the post of UN secretary general. The African Times caught up with him at his hometown in Kabul.
Climate change in the White House
President Obama clears the air with Chancellor Merkel – By Nicolas Kumanoff
The two leaders came late to their news conference. Their body language started out stiff. But fears of a new transatlantic ice age soon melted away.
They made the media wait. Barack Obama and his guest at the White House, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, were half an hour late when they finally stepped up to their mikes in the East Room for a joint news conference on June 26.
Learning from suffering
The German Historical Museum’s bold look at German-Polish relations – By Christian Semler
Germany and Poland have a fraught mutual history. A new exhibition in Berlin, “Despair and Hope,” avoids pitfalls while enlightening visitors.
Nineteen years after Germany’s conclusive acceptance of the current German-Polish border, Poles remain generally suspicious that Germans want to rewrite history – portraying themselves as victims instead of perpetrators. Any sign of moves in this direction are pounced upon and exploited for nationalist propaganda in Poland.
In turn, German right-wing groups who reject reconciliation with Poland, use this opportunity to depict Poles in the worst possible light. While grassroots ties between the two countries are gradually flourishing, public discussion of recent German and Polish history remains a political minefield.